Transfer Embargo

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What’s gonna happen

  • Temporary blip

  • Complete ****ing collapse

  • It’ll all be ok

  • Relegation


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In our situation, I think it's a big positive that Sergej plans to adapt tactics etc to our teams strengths and what we have available. Not expecting a great start but might just make things a little more comfortable while we ride things out.

That's meaningless fluff from him. Every manager would say that. Even the likes of Rosenior and Walter who many City fans would say are obsessed with one single way of playing wouldn't identify that way themselves. They would (and did) say that they changed lots of things all the time.
 
Since you mention Simons I've got to say it again: it's just so careless that we discard solid, reliable and cheap players like him as if we can do so much better when the reality is that for one reason or another we repeatedly fail to build a team of players better than that and we always end up relying on that sort of player time and time again once the season gets going. We shouldn't need to sign a load of midfielders to bulk out the squad, we had a perfectly decent young player on a reasonable wage who would've done that job. All of that applies to Jacob too.

I know I'm repeating this point all summer but I find the unearned arrogance of our approach to player trading so frustrating.

I agree. I would’ve kept Simons this summer even before the fee restriction. Zambrano would’ve still been banned until November and Alzate apparently wants out. Simons would’ve been a solid option as a backup number 6 and he can even play as a box-to-box number 8. Selling him for £300K is just daft and arrogant, like you said. Andy Smith is a different story as we’re good for centre-halves.
 
Since you mention Simons I've got to say it again: it's just so careless that we discard solid, reliable and cheap players like him as if we can do so much better when the reality is that for one reason or another we repeatedly fail to build a team of players better than that and we always end up relying on that sort of player time and time again once the season gets going. We shouldn't need to sign a load of midfielders to bulk out the squad, we had a perfectly decent young player on a reasonable wage who would've done that job. All of that applies to Jacob too.

I know I'm repeating this point all summer but I find the unearned arrogance of our approach to player trading so frustrating.

If Simons is the answer, I'm not sure I know what the question was.

He been thoroughly mediocre for us, he went out to Fleetwood and barely played, got a few games and a couple of goals for us, before moving to Wycombe (where he played less games than he'd played for us in the first half of the season) and now he's moved to another League One club.

We've got solid, reliable and cheap in Slater, we don't need two of them.
 
i really hope jacob goes and becomes readings number 1 left back, think theres a player in there, but he badly needs consistent game time to work through his flaws
 
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If Simons is the answer, I'm not sure I know what the question was.

He been thoroughly mediocre for us, he went out to Fleetwood and barely played, got a few games and a couple of goals for us, before moving to Wycombe (where he played less games than he'd played for us in the first half of the season) and now he's moved to another League One club.

We've got solid, reliable and cheap in Slater, we don't need two of them.

They’re not even the same type of midfielder.
 
They’re not even the same type of midfielder.

I didn't say they were, my point was that collecting mediocre players isn't a very good idea.

We shipped him out last season, while bringing in Alzate, Puerta, Matazo and Zambrano, that's a major upgrade. Obviously there's now an issue hanging over us with regard to ins and outs, but we'll just have to deal with that when we know the outcome.
 
i really hope jacob goes and becomes readings number 1 left back, think theres a player in there, but he badly needs consistent game time to work through his flaws
Agreed.I think Jacob will come good for someone else and the best of luck to him.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again today...We need to go back to our roots/the basics and remember who we are at times,we've got nowhere spending the £4 and £5 millions on mediocre players,time it stopped and we build from the ground upwards!!
 
I didn't say they were, my point was that collecting mediocre players isn't a very good idea.

We shipped him out last season, while bringing in Alzate, Puerta, Matazo and Zambrano, that's a major upgrade. Obviously there's now an issue hanging over us with regard to ins and outs, but we'll just have to deal with that when we know the outcome.

Simons often kept Zambrano out of the starting XI before he was banned. From what I can remember, he never dropped a stinker before he went on loan to Wycombe. He’s 22-years-old, strong, athletic and held his own in a poor Walter side. People were ****ing themselves silly over Zambrano after a few half-decent performances and were acting like he was amazing before the ban. I’m not suggesting Simons is better than Zambrano on a technical level but there wasn’t a huge difference between their impact and performances in the season just gone.

We already know the outcome to many of the names you mentioned. Matazo’s injured until December, Zambrano’s banned until November and Puerta isn’t even registered.
 
If Simons is the answer, I'm not sure I know what the question was.

He been thoroughly mediocre for us, he went out to Fleetwood and barely played, got a few games and a couple of goals for us, before moving to Wycombe (where he played less games than he'd played for us in the first half of the season) and now he's moved to another League One club.

We've got solid, reliable and cheap in Slater, we don't need two of them.

Well, the question is who fills out our midfield this season when we're under a transfer embargo.

I would argue that we do need two, and many more in fact, players who are solid, cheap and reliable. Many of our signings over recent years have been none of those things.

And if he is only mediocre, that's still above average for our transfer record. Instead we'll no doubt find another Lincoln to come and sit on the bench for £20k/week before quietly leaving the following window.
 
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Agreed.I think Jacob will come good for someone else and the best of luck to him.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again today...We need to go back to our roots/the basics and remember who we are at times,we've got nowhere spending the £4 and £5 millions on mediocre players,time it stopped and we build from the ground upwards!!

I think you're right to an extent. It's always nice to get a big money signing but it very rarely works out for us. The best we've been under Acun was the first half of 23/24 when we quietly spent the first half of that season in the playoff places. That summer we'd been relatively conservative, signing Delap and Morton on loan and getting the likes of Lokilo in who must've been cheap. Twine and Philogene were the 'star' signings but we didn't go mad. Since then we've gambled more and more on buying and spending money but never got near that level again.
 
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Well, the question is who fills out our midfield this season when we're under a transfer embargo.

I would argue that we do need two, and many more in fact, players who are solid, cheap and reliable. Many of our signings over recent years have been none of those things.

And if he is only mediocre, that's still above average for our transfer record. Instead we'll no doubt find another Lincoln to come and sit on the bench for £20k/week before quietly leaving the following window.

If we remain under a fee restriction this summer then we will have to sign several free agents of a similar standard as Simons or even worse to provide depth to the midfield.
 
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If we remain under a fee restriction this summer then we will have to sign several free agents of a similar standard as Simons or even worse to provide depth to the midfield.
Then surely the answer to that is, if the club had had a crystal ball they wouldn't a) have let Simmons go and b) they'd have got their ducks in a row to stop whats happened happening...
 
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Since you mention Simons I've got to say it again: it's just so careless that we discard solid, reliable and cheap players like him as if we can do so much better when the reality is that for one reason or another we repeatedly fail to build a team of players better than that and we always end up relying on that sort of player time and time again once the season gets going. We shouldn't need to sign a load of midfielders to bulk out the squad, we had a perfectly decent young player on a reasonable wage who would've done that job. All of that applies to Jacob too.

I know I'm repeating this point all summer but I find the unearned arrogance of our approach to player trading so frustrating.
Agree about Simons
Disagree about Jacob
 
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I didn't say they were, my point was that collecting mediocre players isn't a very good idea.

We shipped him out last season, while bringing in Alzate, Puerta, Matazo and Zambrano, that's a major upgrade. Obviously there's now an issue hanging over us with regard to ins and outs, but we'll just have to deal with that when we know the outcome.
I wouldn’t say they were a major up grade tbh
Look were we finished
 
Agreed.I think Jacob will come good for someone else and the best of luck to him.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again today...We need to go back to our roots/the basics and remember who we are at times,we've got nowhere spending the £4 and £5 millions on mediocre players,time it stopped and we build from the ground upwards!!

It's not getting value on the pitch or off it for the majority of those kinda signings that's lead us here
Then surely the answer to that is, if the club had had a crystal ball they wouldn't a) have let Simmons go and b) they'd have got their ducks in a row to stop whats happened happening...

They didn't need a crystal ball. Nothing that's happened here has come out of the blue. It's all there in the EFL regs and in the agreements we signed.

ignorance isn't an excuse and 70 out of 72 clubs don't have this problem.
 
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Simons often kept Zambrano out of the starting XI before he was banned. From what I can remember, he never dropped a stinker before he went on loan to Wycombe. He’s 22-years-old, strong, athletic and held his own in a poor Walter side. People were ****ing themselves silly over Zambrano after a few half-decent performances and were acting like he was amazing before the ban. I’m not suggesting Simons is better than Zambrano on a technical level but there wasn’t a huge difference between their impact and performances in the season just gone.

We already know the outcome to many of the names you mentioned. Matazo’s injured until December, Zambrano’s banned until November and Puerta isn’t even registered.
I think you’re forgetting that during the short time that Zambrano was involved in the team, it was under Walter and his insistence that we avoided playing through central midfield wherever possible and yet he still managed to look a cut above.
 
I think you’re forgetting that during the short time that Zambrano was involved in the team, it was under Walter and his insistence that we avoided playing through central midfield wherever possible and yet he still managed to look a cut above.

So did Simons.
 
Simons always struck me as a player who needed the right manager to improve his game, whereas other players can just play regardless of the manager/tactics.
 
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